HTC Evo 4g Redesign

1Running head: IMPROVEMENTS TO THE SMARTPHONE HTC EVO 4G

Improvements to the Smartphone HTC EVO 4G

Aaron Doperalski, Brett Galloway, Breanna Goring, Connie Pitenis, Paulo Davila

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Author Note

This research was conducted by Aaron Doperalski, Brett Galloway, Breanna Goring, Connie

Pitenis, and Paulo Davila, Methods and Technology, Human Factors Psychology Department,

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Prof. Blickensderfer helped immensely with the direction and editing of our research.

Mailing address for correspondence:

600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd. ERAU 6510Daytona Beach, FL 32114

2IMPROVEMENTS TO THE SMARTPHONE HTC EVO 4G

Table of Contents

System Description/Overview…………………………………………………………………….…..…....3

Analysis & Design Methods Used and Findings

Cell Phone Survey………………………………………………………………………………….5

Task Analysis………………………………………………………………………………….…...6

Verbal Protocol Analysis……………………………………………………………….…….…..11

Analysis of Similar Systems……………………………………………………………………...16

Interview………………………………………………………………………………………….17

Picture Timeline Analysis……………………………………………………………………..….19

Timeline Analysis………………………………………………………………………….…22-23

Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………...…24-29

Appendix

A (Cell Phone Survey)…………………….…………………………………………………….

B (Task Analysis)………………………………………………………………………...

C (Verbal Protocol Analysis)………………………………………………………………

D………………………………………………………………………………………………

E………………………………………………………………………………………………

F………………………………………………………………………………………………

G………………………………………………………………………………………………


System Overview

Smart phones are the state of the art communication systems designed to help users stay

connected, stay entertained, and stay up to date on current events. Most smart phones today use

touch-screen and boast a 4G technology that makes internet access on your phone faster and

more accessible.

The system consists of 5x3 inch touch screen interface, Wi-Fi capabilities, GPS,

Bluetooth, radio, internal memory, operating system, power source, camera, speakers, etc.

Humans are capable of using these Smart phones for mobile phone, texting, email,

entertainment, memory, media, applications, and internet access. Some examples of this would

be making a house call to your friends and family. Business calls are also a useful application of

cell phones; this makes it possible to do long distance interviews or business deals. Messaging

in both texting and E-mailing allow the user to send media and have nonverbal conversations.

Cell phones could be considered to be making the planet green so to speak; the user can pull up

full length newspapers, read books with a kindle application, and listen/download music without

having to purchase an I-Pod or CD’s. Probably one of the most used applications is the Google

application; this allows the user to look up any needed information in forms of videos, journals,

WIKI, and just about anything that can be imagined.

The input to the system is the human communiqué; touching, clicking, texting, calling,

searching, and just generally using the programs available. The output would be the responses of

the inputs.

Virtually all ages of humans, ranging 8-65 years old, around the world interact with

Smart Phones on a daily basis. Generally these phones match the applications used on


computers making human interaction a more intuitive process. The purpose of this project is to

examine smart phones from a user perspective and suggest design changes.


Cell phone Survey

A survey is a type of questionnaire that can be used in many domains. It asks a number of

questions to collect quantitative data on a specific topic. Our survey, in particular, focused on

cell phone usage as well as what aspects and functions of cell phones users like best. The results

of our survey will yield good and bad aspects of cell phones and in turn, help us to determine

which characteristic to incorporate in our remodel or which to leave out.

The database used for our survey was Surveymonkey.com. Participants for our survey

ranged from ages 18-44. There were 15 respondents and 66.7% were female. All of our

respondents owned a cell phone and 60% stated that they used the touch screen keypad the most.

The next most used method of typing was touch screen swipe, followed by a QWERTY keypad

and lastly a number pad. A major trend the results from our survey showed was that texting is a

very popular use for cell phones today. 80% of the participants noted using texting more than

calling and internet/email. An unexpected result we obtained was that internet/email (13.3%) was

used more on cell phones than calling (6.7%). However, when asked what application they used

most frequent, again, texting came out on top but this time calling was second, followed by

internet/email, camera, and lastly T.V. Another question on our survey focused on the features of

the phone that the users liked. The most popular features were texting once again, as well as

touch screen; the number pad and T.V application were least liked. We asked the participants

what they looked for when purchasing a phone and 40% answered processing speed and memory

and 26.7% answered durability and versatility. The results from our survey showed that people

tend to replace their phone every 1-2 years and the features are more important than the price.

Task Analysis


The next step in the project was a task analysis. The task analysis is used as a

representation of the process the human under goes through to perform the task. Before

representing the task, it has to be analyzed and broken down into sequential elements from first

to last. Within each element there are sub-elements that follow the same rule. The reason to

perform a task analysis is to obtain step-by-step information of mental and physical activity

among humans or human to machine interaction. This will help us redesign the task for

maximum efficiency and spot any errors in the procedure.

Our group came up with a task analysis of how to make a phone call with our new phone

for an HTC 4g. We started our analysis with the phone completely off. Our first step was to turn

on the phone by pressing the button that indicated power. After, the screen turns on. There are

exactly four ways of completing a call. There is a menu button on the home screen that you can

press that goes to multiple icons and applications. One of those icons indicates the phone. After

selecting the phone application, the user will then be able to manually type the number that they

would like to call. If they already have that number in their address book, the users will then be

able to select a name from the contact list, which will automatically call. After selecting a

number, the user will press a green on the screen that indicates that they are about to call a

number. When they want to cancel a call or end a conversation, the user will then press a red

button on the screen that will terminate the call.

After analyzing and breaking down the task into sub-elements in a task analysis, we

discovered that there are more ways than originally expected to make a phone call. Between

having the cell phone completely off to ending a call, the human can go through multiple

procedures, each with their own steps. It was revealed that constant human-machine interaction

was done in multiple steps, which makes the task of making a phone call a long procedure. We


discovered that there two aspects of the phone where errors were found. The first aspect was the

physical layout of the phone and interface. The second was the visual recognition of functions,

which caused cognitive errors. Several methods of creating a phone call can be rendered useless

and inefficient, due to the fact that a more efficient method is provided to the user. Even within

the most efficient method, there are steps that can be altered or deleted to enhance and shorten

the procedure. The current methods provided by the phone are shown to lean more towards

technology-centered design rather than a human-centered design. After generating the task

analysis, it became more apparent that making a phone call was not as efficient as it should be.

The design of the phone itself should provide a clean-cut format, easy enough to understand and

execute tasks.

Although there are several methods on making a phone call, there is one designated

method and the rest are “short-cut methods”. The term “short-cut methods” does not obtain the

traditional definition, but instead it will be used as a technological reference for creating a link

other than the designated method within the phone itself. These “short-cut methods” are scattered

around the phone and lack great amount of detail. Both the designated method and “short-cut

methods” consist of numerous amounts of ways to arrive to the phone call icons.

After generating the HTA, we determined what possible errors comprise the phone’s

efficiency. First, we will describe the varied ways to arrive to the phone call icons. When the

phone is completely off, the procedure to arrive to the phone call icons is relatively easy but not

as efficient as it should be. First the user must check if the phone is on or off. This is done by

holding on to the power button, which is located on the top right corner of the phone, for two

seconds. To the novice and expert users (Expert users are unfamiliar to the phone but not to the

touch screen interface and Novice are completely unfamiliar to a touch screen phone) a problem


will arise. The power button is hard to find and recognize. Only through processes of elimination

can the button and function be recognized. The trials of process of elimination can be divided

into two categories: Visual/Cognitive trials and Physical trials.

A Visual/Cognitive trial is the procedure of using previous knowledge of button

placement to determine the function along with using color coordination and labels. To the

novice user this is a problem due to the fact that no phones prior to the touch screen phone has a

similar button layout. Then they would have to resort to color coordination where they will face

another problem. Due to the phone and its buttons are rendered the same color, it is hard to

identify that an actual button is present. There is also no label or symbol that distinguishes the

power button among the other buttons, which causes the function recognition to be vague. The

expert user’s background on touch screen phones will determine the problems they would face.

If the expert user has knowledge of other touch screen phones (among the touch screen phones

button placement is similar), such as the I phone, they will not face a severe problem. They

would only encounter the difficulty to realize an actual button is present due to the color

coordination. If the expert user only has background knowledge of hybrid touch screen phones

(such as the Verizon Voyager or EnV Touch, where a regular keypad is integrated with the touch

screen with limited functions) they will face the same problems as the novice user.

The physical trial consists of physically interacting with the buttons after visual/cognitive

trials have failed or have been avoided. After visual/ cognitive trails have failed, the novice and

some expert users will move on to the physical trial. This process is simple. The novice and

expert users will just press buttons until their function is revealed. Although this processes is

simple, both users will find that the size of the phone gets in the way. While grasping the phone


by one hand, reaching the power button is difficult. This causes frustration and time spent

inefficiently.

The second sub-element where errors will occur is the process of arriving to the home

screen. There are three different icons that direct you to the home screen (Menu, Home, End).

Two of the icons are embedded on the hardware (the phone itself and not the touch screen

interface) but the third is integrated as an icon in the screen. The issue at hand is redundancy.

There two types of redundancy: Structured Redundancy and Unstructured Redundancy.

Structured redundancy is creating multiple ways to perform one action in an organized manor, in

which they do not overlap each other. Unstructured redundancy is the processes of creating

multiple ways to perform one action but they over lap each other.

When the phone is powered on, the user will automatically be on the home screen. If the

users decided to redirect themselves to another part of the phone, they will need to use one of the

three icons provided. In this scenario is when the unstructured redundancy reveals itself. The

user is exposed to multiple icons and buttons at a time in an unorganized layout. By exposing the

user to multiple ways to execute a task at the same time, it will affect them cognitively and will

affect the phone’s efficiency.

The way the unstructured redundancy affects the user cognitively is through process of

elimination. Through an unstructured redundancy, the user is exposed to multiple ways of

performing a task with an unorganized layout. Throughout the phone, each icon and button is

represented by a symbol that should make it clear to recognize the task. Although obvious

symbols are provided, it is affected by redundancy. For example, the three icons that redirect the

user to the home page have obvious symbols for their functions. The home button is represented

by house icon, which represents the home screen. The menu button is labeled by the words


Menu, which is self-explanatory. A red phone represents the End button. Based on prior

knowledge, the each symbol represents the same function. Although each represents the same

function, the executions are different. This affects the visual/cognitive trials. By having all the

symbols represent the same function, task recognition becomes unclear. It is not until the user

conducts a physical trial that they notice that all provide the same outcome through different

executions. Unstructured redundancy also affects the layout of the phone by creating a cluster of

icons and buttons. This has a negative affect due to the fact both size and button placement are

compromised in order to fit all buttons and icons in the layout. Structured redundancy would be

beneficial in the phones layout by only providing one button or icon per page to achieve one

action.

The final sub-element that should be revised is the dial counter. There are two ways to

arrive to the dial counter. The first way is to press the phone icon that is available on the bottom

center of the home screen, which will direct the user straight to the dial counter. The second way

to arrive to the dial counter is through the People icons, which contains all your contacts, dialed

calls, missed calls, and the dial counters. When the user uses the phone icon to direct them to the

dial counter, they would have to go back to the home screen in order to view their contacts and

call history. This causes time inefficiency by undergoing the whole process of arriving to the dial

counter.


Verbal Protocol Analysis

Another analysis performed for the reconstruction of the HTC EVO 4G was the verbal

protocol analysis. We performed this analysis because it is necessary to see how users, both

novice and expert, perform on the system, as well as, helps us see some of the problems that

normal users will come in contact with. In order to do this analysis I picked two male

participants of the ages 20 and 21 who are most likely to use this specific system. One of these

participants was unfamiliar with smart phone applications, while the other had a good degree of

experience. I did this so I was able to see if the problems they had rose from inexperience or

actual structural errors in the phone. Using our survey and the activity timeline analysis I was

able to make a list of tasks that were most prominent to smart phone users and were most likely

to be done if a person owned this system. These tasks can be seen on APPENDIX ?.

I had the participants perform these tasks while describing out loud exactly what they

were doing and what they liked and had problems with while I took notes. The participants

began by starting the phone, which both the novice (age 20) and the expert (age 21) had

problems with because the button to turn it on is small and on the top right corner of the system.

The novice had to use process of elimination to find this, while the expert had trouble pressing it

while the phone’s case was on. Throughout the analysis both users continued to complain about

this feature because the phone would fall into hibernation if not used for a short period of time,

forcing them to reposition their hand in order to click this button and turn it back on each time.

They then had to unlock it, which means they had to drag a bar on the screen down. This was a

little troublesome because both participants attempted to first drag it up out of habit and then

figured out to drag it down. When sending the text the participants both had no trouble finding

the icon, using the touch screen keyboard to type in the recipient, and sending it because they


were guided well on the phone. They also said how they liked the feature that as soon as they

sent the text a conversation screen was created showing all texts to and from the recipient.

Before moving on to the next step the users had to first go to the home screen, which was a

problem that plagued them throughout the entire analysis because they would click the menu

button that was right next to the button with a home on it. They were very vocal about how this

aggravated and confused them. Once home they easily found the phonebook and my name and

were able to make the call without any problems. The next step was to find a certain YouTube

video; the methods used differed between the novice and the expert because the novice slid

through the screens searching for the Google application until he found a small arrow in the right

had corner of the screen that opened a menu that had all applications that were available. It then

took him awhile to scroll down and up searching for what he needed until he found the Google

icon and clicked it, he also conveyed how when coming to this screen he was initially confused

because he was previously used to flipping left and right and attempted to do the same on this

screen which was not an option. From there he had no trouble typing in the title, searching for it,

finding it on YouTube, and playing it. The expert went another route in which he flipped left and

right through the screens until he found a YouTube icon, clicked it and found the video. While

doing this he expressed his annoyance of how many screens he had to search through just to find

this one application. Both users had to then go back home in order to find a game (again clicked

menu). The novice user had previously found the page with all the applications on it so all he

needed to do was scroll through it until he found an icon that looked like it would be a game. The

expert, however, had much harder time without this knowledge and proceeded to flip through

every page without luck until he ended back at the home page and found the arrow in the bottom

left that lead to all applications. By this time he was extremely aggravated and proceeded to use


some obscenities but eventually found a chess icon and clicked it. Since both users were now

aware of the page with all the applications on it they had little trouble scrolling up and down

until they found a calendar icon, clicked it, and flipped through the dates. The expert user,

however, was so used to flipping through pages he first went through a couple pages before

going back to the all application page. For finding email the participants again used two different

methods: the novice user went back to the Google search application typed in Gmail.com and

went to his email, while the expert flipped to his right in order to find the Gmail icon he had

previously seen and clicked that to get to his email. Since both users had previously used a cell

phone they knew from their general knowledge to try the buttons on the side in order to put it on

silent and had no problem doing this. They also had no problem finding the camera icon on the

home screen, clicking the icon that looked like a shutter to take a picture, and then clicking the

trash can and the picture in order to delete it. Last they knew from the several times they had to

click it throughout the analysis that the button that turned it on could also be used to turn it off.

From observing and listening to the participants there were some software and hardware

features that really stood out as beneficial and troublesome to the user. One feature that really

helped the participants, especially the novice, through the tasks was how the icons served as

directional keys. Instead of having generic words that the users had to process and then evaluate

if that’s what they needed, the picture icons were an easy way for them to spot the function they

wanted, even if they didn’t know where it was. In this way guidelines were available so they

could easily guess what to click next without knowing how to work the features. Because of this

we found it necessary that we keep these directional keys in our final software prototype.

Next, the users had real trouble with how unorganized the phone was. The applications

were randomized throughout numerous pages making it extremely complicated to find the exact


one they needed. Even when they did locate the page with all the applications on it, the fact that

there was no set pattern to them made it so they had to allocate a greater amount of time to find

the specific application they were looking for. Also, the fact some pages they flipped left and

right through and some pages they had to scroll up and down confused them to which way they

should be searching and again wasted more time. Because of this we saw that there should be

some way to organize the applications by category in folders rather than having them

randomized throughout the phone and have these folders on a limited amount of pages so they

wouldn’t be scattered throughout the system. This was also eliminate the need to have two

different ways to scroll because everything would be readily available on 2 to 3 screens that you

could flip left or right through.

The last problem that the participants were really vocal about was the integrated buttons

were either confusing or hard to access. The fact that they had to repeatedly put their hand in an

awkward position in order to turn the phone on was a great nuisance to them throughout the

entire analysis. This is actually more of a problem then just annoying the user because the

repeated stress on their hands, over time, can create skeletal problems such as Arthritis and

Carpal Tunnel which are harmful to their well being later in life. Also, the users had the biggest

problem with the fact that the home and menu button confused them. The fact that these two

buttons are next to each other and have similar functions allowed for the user’s automatic

processing to be confused and would hit one or the other at random. This is a real problem

because when speed is a necessity and automatic processing takes over users will run into a

problem a large percentage of the time. There was also some buttons integrated on the system

that the users never used during the analysis such as the search and back buttons that may prove

unnecessary. We decided that it would be essential to find a way to implement the power button


in an easy location, such as with the other integrated keys, as well as find a way to have the home

and menu buttons father apart or have them with better descriptive icons.


Analysis of Similar Systems (AoSS)

An analysis of similar systems (AoSS) is a method of examining traits of interest in

existing, comparable systems to determine what works and what doesn’t. This analysis is

conducted at the beginning of the project with the benefit of discovering how others have

addressed similar problems with the system they are comparing the analysis to. An AoSS can

look at anything from the software of the system to the layout, control mechanisms, symbology,

and many other categories pertinent to the system.

When conducting an AoSS for the HTC EVO 4G the systems we used were an iPod

(music player), HP G62 notebook, BlackBerry 8900, and an HTC HD7 Windows & phone. The

components we analyzed from each system were the specifications, interface, capabilities, and

features. Our chart shows each system with a breakdown of each component. For example, under

specifications we looked at the display size, battery life, memory, price, and camera pixels of

each system. Being able to visually compare systems similar to that of the HTC EVO 4G

allowed us to get ideas for our redesign.


Interview

We found interests in battery life usage and amount phones battery needed to be charged

in our survey. Questions in the interview asked about the type/style of phone (Basic, Flip, Smart,

Blackberry) in comparison to battery life. Depending on the phone the 5 main power using

phone abilities (GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile Network, and Hot Spot) must also be taken into

consideration on how often they were used compared to how long the life of the battery lasted.

The overall purpose was to see how applicable it would be to have a solar powered charging

option on their phone and inform users on which features used the most power.

We interviewed 26 people ranging from ages 16-53 with a concentration in the mid 20’s.

This included 12 males and 14 females. We would randomly stop people on campus or on the

street and ask them for a minute of their time. We would proceed to tell them that it was going

to be a quick 5 question interview on power consumption of their cell phone. After doing

research on which phone options used the most power I came up with these questions and

inferences in order:

What is your age range? (10-20), (20-30), (30-40), (40-50), (60-70).

May I see what kind of phone you have? (To find which type/style of phone that they

had)

Currently which of these option do you have turned ON between GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth,

Mobile Network, and Hotspot?

Do you have a phone incasing?

On a scale of one to five (five being agreeing the most) How would you like to have a

solar powered attachment option to charge help lengthen the battery life of your phone?


After asking these questions ,I would point out which options or settings on the phone

used the most energy (mW). Then I would proceed to tell them how I would like to implement a

solar powered casing option for cell phones.

Using these simple interview questions I found that most participants had a smart phone

(12); This usually consisted of a Droid or I-Phone. The Wi-Fi option was the most used option.

I found that most BlackBerry phones had the Mobile Network turned on so they could send and

receive data such as text messages and email. Over half the participants had a phone incasing

which implies that many people wouldn’t mind having a casing for the phone that doubled as a

protecting cover and a renewable energy source. Phones that give the choice of turning on and

off the Wi-Fi, GPS, Mobile Network, Hotspot, and Bluetooth show that by having them on the

battery life will be drained significantly faster. When asking about participants about having a

Solar Power Panel Option, I found most (92%) liked the idea.

Taking the power consumption and battery life into consideration, a solar panel could

eliminate the need to charge a phone during the day and may even eliminate the need for a plug

in power adapter. After doing some research a small solar panel that would fit on a protective

casing could cost approximately 65-95 US dollars (same price as buying a more efficient lithium

battery). With the technology and to keep the price down, the amount of power given by this

solar panel could only charge the phone while it was in an idle mode. When the phone is in use

even without direct light the solar panel could feed power to the phone at the same rate it was

using the battery charge. Size difference with the addition of a solar panel would be 1-2 mm

larger than the Otter Incasing already in use.


Picture Timeline Analysis

The use of a picture timeline tool was to explore how, when and why we used a cell

phone on a day to day basis. It is important to include pictures because it helps explain activities

that are being operated on a cell phone.

The picture timeline that is cell phone specific contains pictures that the user felt

accurately described what a typical cell phone is capable of doing on a daily basis. We felt it was

a good method of collecting data for our design because it is easy to understand and people can

compare how their cell phone would react on a daily basis to our newly designed cell phone. We

chose a time frame from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM for a typical day. We found 80 random pictures

from Google Images as well as 85 words and 86 different emotions and gave them to each of the

10 participants. All pictures, words, and emotions can be found in the Appendix. The participants

were then asked to put the pictures on the timeline where they felt was appropriate based on what

their phones were capable of doing. All 10 participants attended Embry-Riddle, and they all had

a working smartphone that they used on a daily basis. Also, the age of students ranged from 18-

25. After they had completed their picture timeline, I then interviewed the participant and asked

them questions regarding their timeline. Some questions asked were, “Why was this emotion

next to this picture?”, “Why did your phone make you feel _____ at this time and how do you

think it can be improved?”, and “Tell me why you used this picture.”

The timeline analysis can be used to highlight problematic tasks or task sequences in the

design of systems and processes. For example, if a participant put a picture of someone who was

angry or a picture of something that resembled something slow, then they would tell us why at

that moment they were angry with their system or why their system was performing at a slower

pace. Some cell phones are fast all the time, but some are slow depending on which applications


are used at what time. Another example would be if someone had a smartphone that was only

slow when sending a text message and talking to a person at the same time. We would then have

a better understanding why their text messages sent slowly and we would then try to change the

system in order for it to react quicker.

The reliability and validity of the method is questionable. Also, observational data can be

flawed by a number of biases. Another disadvantage was that it was very time consuming to

create the picture timeline and to have the participants create their own timeline. The pictures

were also very hard to come up with as well as the words that can be put next to each picture if

the participant decided to do so. Another disadvantage is that the participants could be using

pictures based on other systems that they use. For example, there could be a picture of a TV that

they put in their picture timeline; however, their smartphone doesn’t have TV capability but

since they watch TV in the morning, they decided to put it because that’s what they felt was right

to do.

The picture timeline analysis did not aide us in incorporating any new features. Some

pictures in the timeline analysis helped users generate ideas about other ways a phone could be

used on a typical day. Each participant had different outcomes. Many of the participants used the

same pictures in the same order. For example, all of the participants used a picture of a clock at

the beginning of their picture timeline and had a picture of a sleeping person or animal at the

very end of their timeline. What was in between those pictures varied, but overall was a good

representation of how each participant used their cell phone. When each participant was asked

about a certain picture, there was not a lot of confusion. Only three participants were not able to

explain why they used a picture of a landmark and airplane. Two participants didn’t use any

words that were given, but they did use emotions next to some pictures. The average time to


compete their picture timeline was 14.8 minutes. The longest time was 19 minutes and the

shortest time was 10 minutes.


Timeline Analysis

One of the analyses performed for the reconstruction of the HTC EVO 4G was the

activity timeline analysis. We performed this analysis in order to see what applications were

most prominent among phone users and to what extent these applications were used. For this

analysis I picked two participants that owned smart phones and used them often. The first

participant (User A) is 20 and female, while the second participant (User B) is 28 and male.

From using general knowledge, as well as, information from our survey I was able to make a list

of the main applications people use and I observed both users for 45 minutes at 5 minute

intervals and recorded when and how long they used each application. These applications

included: calling, texting, browsing the internet, playing games, checking the weather, checking

their calendar, checking email, and social networking.

I first observed User A who started off sending a text to one of her friends. She then

quickly checked the weather and proceeded to browse various sites on the internet that mostly

included random Google searches. She then moved on to checking her email and then switched

over to looking at her Facebook page until she received and sent another text. She played a game

for a small amount of time and then began reading a news application. She continued to text the

person who she was having a conversation with and then quickly checked her calendar. Last she

had to make a call to one of her classmates until the end of our time.

Next I observed User B who started off using his Pandora application to listen to music.

He then received a text and began responding until he was interrupted by a call from his brother

which lasted for a long period of time. In the middle of this call he had to find something in his

room and used a flashlight application to look for it. He browsed the internet for a short period of

time until he began playing a game called Mafia Wars. This was interesting because this game


also served as social networking because he was connected with friends off his Facebook page.

He played this the rest of the time besides when he received and sent a text in the middle.

This analysis was very interesting because it showed us the wide variety of uses a phone

could have. These include some unexpected functions that the users performed such as using a

flashlight, listening to music, and checking the news. After looking at the data it is seen that the

users called, played games, and were on social networking applications most of the time. Overall

though this analysis was not as helpful as we thought it would be because it didn’t really show us

what phone users used the most. The fact that they were only observed for a small period of time

did not allow us to get enough information to make logical hypothesis on the applications most

used and the fact the some applications, such as texting, were performed frequently but not for a

long period of time allowed for error in the final results. Also, we could only perform this

analysis on two people and to get actual valid information we would need a much larger test

population because of the wide variety of applications different people use. Another problem we

encountered was the Hawthorne effect, which states that people being observed will act

differently, which could produce error because participants may have been trying to use a large

variety of applications that they normally wouldn’t use. If we had to perform this analysis again

we would observe at least 10 users for much longer period of time, such as 2 to 3 days, and

would use cameras or an application that recorded each individual function performed, which

would help to see how a participant actually uses their phone when not being observed.


Recommendations

Based on the results from our survey we decided to highlight the most frequently used

features in our redesign the HTC EVO 4G. Because texting, calling, internet/email, and camera

were the most used features on the phone we added a stationary bar to the bottom of the phone.

Even when cycling through the on the touch screen interface, this bar will always remain at the

bottom until an application is opened. This provides the user with a short cut menu to the most

used features of the phone.

Proto-type Home Screen (After)

Original Home Screen (Before)


Based on our results of our analysis, we were able to create a prototype. As you can see

above, we made changes on the hardware. The power button is no longer located on the top of

the phone but now it is located on the bottom right of the screen. We decided to add color

coordination and enlarge the size (in comparison to the other buttons) for two reasons. The first

reason is to show the importance of the Power button in comparison to the others. The second

reason was to improve visual/function recognition by labeling the button with the universal

power sign highlighted with a bright blue light. The power button itself will not protrude out of

the phone but instead it will dip into the phone. This was done to avoid accidentally turning the

phone on or off while it’s in the user pocket. You can see we have deleted the magnifying button,

which represents a search function, and reorganized the button layout. In the original phone the

menu and home button were placed together, as seen in the verbal protocol analysis this created

problems. Having the home and menu button together caused the user to always hit the menu

button when they were trying to hit the home button. Among the home and menu button , we

designated the home button to have the capability to direct the user back to the home screen.

We also updated the software by rearranging the icons on the home screen. As you can see

above, the task bar on the bottom of the digital screen was been replaced. The new task bar will

be stationary, meaning that no matter to what page the user slides to the task bar will be present.

We kept in mind the primary and secondary purpose of the phone and its function. The primary

purpose is to provide the user a form to communicate (Phone calls, Texting, Web Browsing,

Contact Storage). The secondary purpose of the phone is to provide the user applications and

miscellaneous tools. This is the reason behind making the task bar stationary. Based on the

survey the icons within the task bar are placed in order from highest importance to the lowest

importance. On the top of the screen you will be able to see another task bar. This task bar is not


stationary and its purpose is to show the four highest used applications.

The screen above is the application page with some modifications. We kept the digital

screen application page the same for the exception of the stationary task bar. The menu button’s

function has been altered. The menu button would no longer the offer the option to direct the

user to the home screen, due to unstructured redundancy, but instead will offer several options to

manage and organize the applications.

The applications of our recommendations will benefit the phone and the users in several

ways. A clear-cut format and icon/button layout will increase the efficiency of executing several

tasks. Our recommendations will also positively affect the user’s

ability to associate icons/buttons with their functions by deleting

function ambiguity.

Recommendations verbal protocol:

NEED

When conducting our AoSS we noticed a helpful and useful feature of the HP G62

notebook start menu. The start menu changes based on the applications the user uses most. For

example, if I use Microsoft Word a lot, I know that I will be able to find it on my start menu. In

our redesign we decided to provide the user with a short cut bar at the top of the screen that will

vary from user to user based on their most frequently used applications. This bar, in a sense,

plays the role of a “favorites” menu. Another recommendation we received from our AoSS was


the visual display of buttons. We knew from our survey that touch screen interfaces are very

popular with phones today and when looking at the HTC Windows 7 phone we noticed an

interface design that did not work. The HTC Windows 7 phone is touch screen and the display of

the icons are flat square boxes. Not only are the icons flat but they all have one similar color as

well. This design often confused it’s users as they mistook the icons for pictures or banners on

the phone. However our recommendation was to add depth to the buttons on the HTC EVO 4G

as seen in the iPod interface. On a flat surface like the touch screen interface, adding depth to the

icons will make them more easily recognizable as buttons.

Based on the results from the interviews, when it comes to the amount of power that cell

phones use, we recommend informing phone purchasers of which features use the most power

(mW). Also, we recommend that a solar panel casing be implemented to help support the

movement for renewable energy and make the need for plugging in the cell phone. As shown

below is the how the solar panel would fit and look.

Picture timeline confirmed other research results.


Date post:	19-Jan-2015
Category:	Technology
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